


Day Three: Eddie & Chris + Anything

by firstdegreefangirl



Series: Christopher Diaz is a National Hero Week 2020 [3]
Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Christopher Diaz is a National Treasure, Eddie's just doing his best, Father-Son Relationship, Gen, Parenthood, Shopping, based on the author's struggle, children's clothes are iMPOSSIBLE, he's struggling though, this entire fic changed around my attempt to do research for it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:54:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,503
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23798824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firstdegreefangirl/pseuds/firstdegreefangirl
Summary: Eddie takes his son suit shopping. It's more than he'd bargained for.
Relationships: Christopher Diaz & Eddie Diaz (9-1-1 TV)
Series: Christopher Diaz is a National Hero Week 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1712986
Comments: 8
Kudos: 103





	Day Three: Eddie & Chris + Anything

**Author's Note:**

> This is my favorite idea I've had for the week! Enjoy!

“Alright, kiddo. There’s one thing on the list today. That’s it. What’re we shopping for?” Eddie looks down at Christopher as they walk into the department store.

“I get a suit!” He’s three steps ahead of Eddie, hustling out of sheer excitement. Eddie had brought it up at the beginning of the week, how it’s always a good idea for a man to have a suit stashed in the back of the closet, just in case there’s a reason for formalwear, and last time Christopher had dressed up, they’d had to leave the suitcoat at home and roll his sleeves up because everything was a little too small in every direction. He’d asked if Christopher would want to go suit shopping over the weekend, and it instantly became the only thing on the kid’s mind all week. 

He’d practically begged Eddie to take his measurements, and asked him to update them twice in the days after, “just in case I’ve grown any already!” The numbers are written on two sheets of paper, one in Christopher’s jeans pocket and the other tucked safely into Eddie’s wallet, on the off chance that the first copy gets lost. 

Of course, things get hairy as soon as they find the boys’ formalwear department. 

Because none of the suits are sized in a way that makes any sense to Eddie. He knows how to buy dress clothes: neck measurement by sleeve length for the shirt, jackets go by chest size. And he knows how big his kid is, and that he wears a medium in regular shirts. 

But he has no idea what number size that would translate to. Six, eight, 10, that’s how to measure kids’ pants, not suits. He’s got no clue what size shirt Christopher wears, not when the tags are all marked with numbers. 

“Dad? You look confused.” Christopher taps him on the arm. “Are you trying to pick a color?”

“No, buddy. I’m looking at the sizes. You have your numbers?” Christopher pulls the folded-up paper out of his pocket and hands it to Eddie. “Alright, see if you find any tags that match these. Because I don’t see them yet, but they should be here …" 

Christopher wanders off, and together they check every rack and all the shelves. He finds slacks that will fit, but there’s no jacket to match, and there’s still nothing to help him figure out a dress shirt.

He should be able to do this. He knows how to dress up; he’s not immune to the looks he gets when he wears a suit. So why can’t he help his kid have nice clothes too? He just cleared another rack when there’s an excited shout from a few shelves over.

“DAD! Look what I found!”

Finally. If Chris found the shirts, they can get this show on the road.

Eddie jogs over to find him practically bouncing with excitement. 

“Whatcha got?” 

“Look! This one has comic books on it!” Sure enough, Christopher points to a suit adorned with BAM! and POW! and ZAP! In brightly covered comic book bubbles. “Isn’t it awesome!”

“it’s … something.” Eddie has to hide a grimace. “Definitely a statement piece. But, um, you know what? If you get the right suit, you’ll be able to keep it until you outgrow it without having to worry about if it’s in style. You know how long I’ve had my suit?”

“Seven years.” It’s a guess, but Chris sounds so confident about it that Eddie can’t help but laugh as he squats down to Chris’s level.

“Good guess, bud, but not quite. I had to get a new one when I got back from the military because my old one didn’t fit anymore. But I’ve had this one since then, and it’s still a really good suit. How about we look for something more classic, and maybe we can come back for this one if there’s a specific occasion that calls for it?”

“Can we get matching suits? You can have a new one too, Dad!” In the true spirit of a 9-year-old boy, he’s only briefly disappointed before moving on to the next thing. 

“Let’s see what we find for you first, and we’ll see. Mine’s grey, so we can probably find something similar for you if we can work the sizes out.” He stands up and goes back to reading the sizes on the tags, still to no avail.

Eddie must look pretty irritated, because a saleswoman approaches him tentatively and smiles.

“Can I help you gentlemen find anything today?”

“No. We’re fine.” Eddie’s not rude, but his tone is clipped. He shouldn’t need help buying a suit for his kid. This absolutely falls under the umbrella of “Dad Duties” he should be capable of fulfilling without help. 

She smiles and walks off, and Eddie feels a tug on the bottom of his hoodie.

“Dad?” Christopher whispers loudly. “I don’t think we’re fine. You look angry.” 

“I’m not angry, kiddo. Just … trying to figure these out. I thought they’d work like grown-up suits, but –” before he can finish the sentence, Eddie sees a display that he’d missed the first time through the department. “Here, let’s go look at these.” 

It’s a few shelves of pre-packaged suit sets. Each one has just one size, and a chart on the back with measurement ranges. He sighs and looks down at his son.

“Alright, we’re back on track. Let’s see if we like any of these.” He leaves Christopher on one size of the display and circles around to look at the classic, neutral colored suits. The numbers written down in his wallet are way more detailed than they need, but it’s enough to help him figure out which size packet will work for Christopher. He’s picked up a navy blue and a black when he hears him call from around the shelves.

“I wear an eight, right Dad? I think that’s where my sizes go.”

“Sure do, mijo.”

“Can I have this one?” he comes around the end of the display, holding out a suit bundle. Eddie takes it from him and looks down. 

It’s a royal blue velvet coat, adorned with tiny white polka dots. he shirt and pants are simple enough, white and black, but there’s a bowtie tucked into the collar of the shirt that Eddie just can’t see with the coat. It’s red and blue plaid, which wouldn’t be bad as a standalone, but is a lot to pair with the polka dots. 

The suit is the polar opposite of the ones Eddie’s holding, but it’s formal enough, he thinks. Besides, the kid is 9; it’s not like anyone is expecting him to show up anywhere in black-tie. And he’s so excited, bouncing back and forth while he waits for Eddie’s verdict. 

“Pleeeeeeeeeease?”

“Yeah, this’ll work.” He lets Christopher cheer, then continues. “It’s a cool color. Nothing like this hanging in my closet.”

“Yeah, but you said we’d maybe get matching ones! We can go find one for you!”

Before Eddie can come up with an excuse, Christopher’s gone, click-clacking across the store for menswear.

“Chris, wait up!” He jogs after him, trying to find a reason he can’t have a blue velvet polka-dot suit. Nothing comes to mind other than price (and that he really, really doesn’t want one, but he doesn’t want to burst the kid’s bubble) and he doesn’t want Chris to think they’re in any sort of financial trouble. 

They’re not, but even if they were, that’s not for his kid to worry about. 

One thing works out in his favor though, someone is looking out for him, because there are no blue velvet blazers even close to Eddie’s size. Christopher is disappointed for a moment, but his smile brightens when he sees the spinning rack of neckties.

“What about matching neckties? I can have two neckties for one suit, right dad?” 

“Neckties we can do. See something that catches your eye?” Eddie spins the top tier of the display slowly, pointing out a grey pinstripe he thinks would match Chris’s new suit, then a timeless solid red. “This one would probably go with whatever suit you have next, too.”

“This one!” Christopher grabs pulls two identical ties loose from the rack and hands one to Eddie. “I like this one!”

Eddie runs his hand down the silver silk, adorned with tiny yellow flowers and green swirls. 

“You sure? You know, the suit you picked out is blue.”

“Yeah, and the flowers are yellow, and when you put those together, you get green. Like the squiggles!” 

The argument makes sense, Eddie has to admit. And he also has to admit that the next time he wears his suit, when the 118 puts in an appearance at the retiring fire chief’s farewell celebration, he reaches for his new necktie first. 

And when Bobby tells him that it looks nice, he’s proud to have a response at the ready.

“Thanks. Chris picked it out. He’s got a matching one at home.”

**Author's Note:**

> Almost halfway there! Hope y'all are having as much fun reading as I am writing!   
> xoxo


End file.
